Wednesday, April 18, 2007

In honor of all the plant rescues and invasive plant pulls, here are some useful plant facts:

-Bananas are actually herbs. Bananas die after fruiting, like all herbs do.-A pineapple is a berry.-Eggplant is a member of the thistle family.-Peanuts are beans.-The rose family of plants, in addition to flowers, gives us apples, pears,plums, cherries, almonds, peaches and apricots.-There are more than 700 species of plants that grow in the United Statesthat have been identified as dangerous if eaten. Among them are some thatare commonly favored by gardeners: buttercups, daffodils, lily of thevalley, sweet peas, oleander, azalea, bleeding heart, delphinium, andrhododendron.